The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper
The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper is a computer-animated short produced by DreamWorks Animation (with soundtrack by Media Ventures' young-gun James Dooley), released in movie theatres and on DVD in 2005. The 12-minute film showcases the adventures of four penguins, sometimes known as the Madagascar Penguins, who live in the Central Park Zoo and are trained as spies. It premiered in theaters on October 7, 2005 with the stop-motion film, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The short was later included on the later editions of the Madagascar DVD and the Shrek DVD, both of which were released on November 15, 2005. The short was directed by animation veteran Gary Trousdale, produced by Teresa Cheng, and written by Michael Lachance. Plot In the story, the youngest penguin on the team, Private, discovers the sorrow of Ted the Polar Bear and sets out of the zoo to find a present for him. In the middle of his shopping, he is abducted by an old lady who mistakes him for a chew toy for her vicious pet dog, Mr. Chew. Meanwhile, the other three penguins, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico, discover Private's absence and set out to rescue him. A running gag is when Rico holds up a dynamite and asks Skipper for permission blow down the house. The three penguins pull themselves across the street using a grappling hook attached to a manhole lid. At the end of the film they invite Ted to their home. But he had already invited several other guests, resulting in a massive sing-a-long to a parody of Jingle Bells Voice cast *Chris Miller as Kowalski *John DiMaggio as Rico *Tom McGrath as Skipper *Elisa Gabrielli as the Nana *Christopher Knights as Private *Hope Levy as an Additional Voice *Rif Hutton as an Additional Voice *Richard Miro as an Additional Voice *Mitch Carter as an Additional Voice *Lynnanne Zager as an Additional Voice *Bill Fagerbakke as Ted the Polar Bear *Sean Bishop as the Doorman/TV Announcer *Frank Welker as Mr. Chew Gags *Rico is constantly regurgitating a piece of dynamite out of his stomach and asking Skipper's permission to use it three times. Finally, at the end, Skipper lets him use it. *Nobody except Skipper knows the "credo" - "never swim alone." – The other penguins also confuse the Walrus credo ("Ha-da-da, ha-da-da doo-da dee-da!") with the other Penguin credo - "never bathe in hot oil and Bisquick." *In an attempt to get a better view of Private while on the streets of New York, Skipper, Rico and Kowalski try to blend in with passing Catholic nuns. *When trying to catch up with Private the penguins attach a grappling hook to a taxi. The licence plate of the taxi reads "I8BIGAPEL" i.e. I ate big apple (New York) *During the battle, Skipper uses Rico as a machine gun for cover fire, using swallowed mints as bullets. *In a reference to the first film, Skipper makes several references to curse words, i.e. "Hoover Dam", "Grand Coulee Dam", "Shiitake mushrooms", "Holy Butterball." *When the Private flies across the room and smashes into the kitchen, the sports announcer on TV yells "What a hit! Ryan is down!", an allusion to Saving Private Ryan. *When Skipper tells Rico that the old lady "didn't see anything", he makes a hand-motion similar to the Jedi mind trick. *When penguins stop following the nuns and roll over they very closely assemble most widely reproduced publicity images from Charlie's Angels. Category:Shorts Category:Short Films Category:Madagascar Movies Category:Christmas Specials Category:Animal Tale